Automation,Editing,EQ and Comp....

[Jeff Scott]

I've been teaching myself the "fine art" of editing,splicing and dicing tracks with SAW. Special thanks to Carl G. whose Automation Gallery examples got me started to think in terms of saving specific "tools" for use in this process.

My main issue was dealing with Plosives and Sibilance. I've tried several different means to deal with both and have come to a place of comfort in dealing with these in th MT. For plosives: I've had the best success automating the Channel EQ Hi pass filter to turn on/off over the plosive. As for instances of sibiliance (pun intended ;)), I've gotten comfortable using the Channel compressor keyed to a operate on a frequency range of between 3 to 12k (depending on vocalist). I set up the change in the Automation gallery, mark a range over the Plosive or Sibilance, and insert the Automation on the track.

The only issue is that I usually already have the Channel EQ and Compressor in use on the track and on occasion I've gone ahead, auditioning the track, unaware that the Plosive EQ or Sibilance move Ijust made has now become the overall track EQ or comp setting. It didn't change back. Now....I may have made a mistake and screwed something else up.

So first question: Is this behaviour normal? or should the track EQ and Comp settings return to normal after the insertion of an Automation Gallery move.

Second question: Instead of using the Channel EQ, could I not just add one of Bob's 7 band EQ's, set it to Hipass at the chosen frequency and turn it on/off over the plosive?

3rd Question: any reason not to use the Levelizer, keyed to the sibilance frequency range, to do the same, as opposed to using the Channel Compressor?

Using Bob's EQ and Levelizer would simplifiy things.

[Dave Labrecque]

I've been teaching myself the "fine art" of editing,splicing and dicing tracks with SAW. Special thanks to Carl G. whose Automation Gallery examples got me started to think in terms of saving specific "tools" for use in this process.

My main issue was dealing with Plosives and Sibilance. I've tried several different means to deal with both and have come to a place of comfort in dealing with these in th MT. For plosives: I've had the best success automating the Channel EQ Hi pass filter to turn on/off over the plosive. As for instances of sibiliance (pun intended ;)), I've gotten comfortable using the Channel compressor keyed to a operate on a frequency range of between 3 to 12k (depending on vocalist). I set up the change in the Automation gallery, mark a range over the Plosive or Sibilance, and insert the Automation on the track.

The only issue is that I usually already have the Channel EQ and Compressor in use on the track and on occasion I've gone ahead, auditioning the track, unaware that the Plosive EQ or Sibilance move Ijust made has now become the overall track EQ or comp setting. It didn't change back. Now....I may have made a mistake and screwed something else up.

So first question: Is this behaviour normal? or should the track EQ and Comp settings return to normal after the insertion of an Automation Gallery move.

If you want to affect only a small portion of the track, you have to turn it on before the spot in question, then turn it off after it. An easy way to do this with SAW mixer controls is mark the area you want affected, place the cursor anywhere in the marked area, then make your settings. The start of the mark will have the automation you want, the end of the mark will return the settings to what they were before you messed with them. ;)


Second question: Instead of using the Channel EQ, could I not just add one of Bob's 7 band EQ's, set it to Hipass at the chosen frequency and turn it on/off over the plosive?Yes. Note that the plugins don't respond to the marked area trick I cite, above, though you may find yourself treating them as if they do. Which is a bit of a PITA at times. ;)


3rd Question: any reason not to use the Levelizer, keyed to the sibilance frequency range, to do the same, as opposed to using the Channel Compressor?They are, in fact, identical internally, so far as I know. So, yes, go for it. I've even used two Levelizers in series affecting two different bands for complex de-essing.


Using Bob's EQ and Levelizer would simplifiy things.Which is why they exist. :)

[Jeff Scott]

Great comments Dave....I'll try out the cursor trick tonight.

Thanks...Jeff

[Dave Labrecque]

Great comments Dave....I'll try out the cursor trick tonight.

Thanks...Jeff

You'll like it. One of the handiest of features in SAW, I think.

[Bob L]

You may also want to experiment with the softedge trick I mentioned in another message...

For plosives... use the K key to cut the region... then slide the region on the right slightly past the plosive... then softedge down with the X key on the left region and softedge up on the right region... leaving a slight hole in between... the size of the gap and amount of softedge can effectively clean a plosive brilliantly with no messing around with eq and comps.

Bob L

[Jeff Scott]

Bob, do I make the K cut just before or just after the plosive?

[UpTilDawn]

Make the cut just to the left of the plosive, then you can Alt/Drag the region edge just beyond the plosive to the right of it. Putting the softedge at that new region edge will allow you to "sneak" up on the plosive sound, smoothing its effect out.

You may need to experiment with both the steepness of the softedge and the amount of plosive you remove with the Alt/Drag. After a while you just get an eye for how much is needed in general and the operation can be really quick and effective.

[bcorkery]

You may also want to experiment with the softedge trick I mentioned in another message...

For plosives... use the K key to cut the region... then slide the region on the right slightly past the plosive... then softedge down with the X key on the left region and softedge up on the right region... leaving a slight hole in between... the size of the gap and amount of softedge can effectively clean a plosive brilliantly with no messing around with eq and comps.

Bob LYeah, thanks Bob. I don't think I had the time to thank you yet in the earlier post.

[Carl G.]

You may also want to experiment with the softedge trick I mentioned in another message...

For plosives... use the K key to cut the region... then slide the region on the right slightly past the plosive... then softedge down with the X key on the left region and softedge up on the right region... leaving a slight hole in between... the size of the gap and amount of softedge can effectively clean a plosive brilliantly with no messing around with eq and comps.

Bob L

Bob... if I understand correctly, we would leave a "hole"...meaning a tiny space with no region in the timeline? (In my editing circumstances when nudging lots of regions back or forth sometimes, that may become a problem along the timeline) Just wondering.

[Carl G.]

Yeah, thanks Bob. I don't think I had the time to thank you yet in the earlier post.
Do you do this without any artificial gap space between regions?
(do all your plosive softedge fixes contain continuous end-to-end spliced regions)?

[Bob L]

No... the ramp down and ramp up over the hole is what removes the plosive.

If you are still shuffling regions all over the timeline... do the plosives last... or create selection groups in Select Mode so you can re-select across the holes again later... or start shifting things using the slip track function.

Bob L

[Ian Alexander]

It's usually been my experience that the p-pop is after the initial sound of the p. It looks like a large sine wav with the little wiggles of the desired sound superimposed on it. The section you want to decrease or eliminate is highlighted in pink.
963
So, start by cutting out the highlighted portion and add the softedges to each side of the gap. I just tried this method for the first time and it worked very well. You do have to bear the gap in mind, as pointed out, if you want to use D and expect the rest of the track to follow along.

A variation that doesn't cut out anything is to highlight the pop while in automation mode, drag the fader to -inf, then use / to adjust the slope. In my test case, a slope of 10 worked well. The fader adjust method was suggested in an earlier thread by several users.

[Jeff Scott]

No... the ramp down and ramp up over the hole is what removes the plosive.

If you are still shuffling regions all over the timeline... do the plosives last... or create selection groups in Select Mode so you can re-select across the holes again later... or start shifting things using the slip track function.

Bob L

Bob: Could you offer an explanation of the Slip Track Function? I don't think I quite understand it's use.

[Bob L]

From the Helpfile MultiTrack Operation Normal Mode Section:

Moving Marked Areas

When in normal display mode, [Shift-Left-Dragging] a Marked Area on the MultiTrack will slide the area forward or backward. All MT Entries and automation entries within the area will be affected. If the current Hot Track is also a selected track, all selected tracks will be affected. If the Marked Area begins or ends within a Region boundary, the Region will be split at the area begin or end position depending on the direction of the slide.

You can also use the popup Track Properties menu by right-clicking a track label and selecting one of the Slip Track options.

Bob L

[Jeff Scott]

Got it. I was utilizing it ...just didn't know that it was called the "Slip Track' function.

[Dave Labrecque]

Bob... if I understand correctly, we would leave a "hole"...meaning a tiny space with no region in the timeline? (In my editing circumstances when nudging lots of regions back or forth sometimes, that may become a problem along the timeline) Just wondering.

Carl -- note that Bob said "leaving a slight hole in between". Ian's suggestion for avoiding the potential pitfall you describe seems good: instead of creating a hole, mark the area and drop the fader to -inf, then adjust the fader entry slopes to taste. This would emulate a hole with SoftEdges, but lose the danger of relative region timing getting messed up (accidentally closing the hole) later on.

[bcorkery]

Do you do this without any artificial gap space between regions?
(do all your plosive softedge fixes contain continuous end-to-end spliced regions)?If I'm sliding things around and know there's a gap in the regions, I use the Shift+End keys for the track or Ctl+End for the project down the time line. I'm guessing dropping a blank region would give you a little insurance too.

[Carl G.]

Carl -- note that Bob said "leaving a slight hole in between". Ian's suggestion for avoiding the potential pitfall you describe seems good: instead of creating a hole, mark the area and drop the fader to -inf, then adjust the fader entry slopes to taste. This would emulate a hole with SoftEdges, but lose the danger of relative region timing getting messed up (accidentally closing the hole) later on.

Practicing this evening - thanks Ian & Dave.